Rhode Island's Hacker/Maker Miniconference September 15th 2012

Events

Well, we've managed to drag you away from what you were doing, and then give us money. We had better have something good for you do while you're here, right?

Actually, we think we do.

3D Printing Demo's

Remember the first time you encountered this little bit of cognitive dissonance? Y'know, the one that goes like "Oh, wait a minute, this is a physical object ... I can't send it over the Internet! Damn!"

With devices like the Cupcake, the RepRap and the Makerbot, taking things from a (digital) 3D model to a (physical) 3D model has never been easier. Best of all, it's now several zeroes less expensive than it used to be.

Come and experiment with incorporating imagination into incarnation. (We can also let you try your hand at making stuff too).

HAM Technician License Prep Course

Talking on the Radio? Talk about Old-School! Nobody uses radio any more! Who needs that archaic crap, right? I mean, we have all this new awesome stuff like cellphone, GPS, w-ifi, bluetooth, zigbee, RFID, and ... wait., they're all radio devices, aren't they? You totally set me up there, didn't ya.

Look, you might think of Amateur Radio as an archaic hobby, enjoyed by aging engineers with magnificent beards (hey! those guys are our friends too!) but it's also about hands-on experience with a technology that, for much of the world ,"just works" ... until it doesn't.

You know what? When the zombie apocalypse comes, and we're the only people that know how to make that magic "wireless" stuff work, you'll be wishing you'd signed up to take your technician exam, won'tcha!

Lockpick Village

Security people love a good puzzle, Makers love objects that interact in complex ways. Locks and Lockpicking are the fusion of close tolerances, clever design, and that obsessive need to solve that puzzle that you are just so close to cracking!.

Here at The Brain Tank, we just love locks and lockpicking because it brings together hackers and makers in a common ground.

You know why you're here: come learn to a useful skill (and by that we mean "how to build a better lock, by defeating ones that suck").

Laser Maze

Don't tell me you haven't seen that movie.. you know the one: A priceless object, an impenetrable security system, everything on the line; and one lone woman in an outfit completely inappropriate for covert exfiltration operations...

Sadly we can't provide the form-fitting radar-invisible latex costume, but we do have an impenetrable laser defense grid we challenge you to traverse.

Nerd Rock!

It's been a long day: you've watched presentations on things you've only heard about, you've tried your hand at things you've been meaning to learn for a while now, you've even picked your first lock successfully. You would have TOTALLY beaten that lazer maze if you hadn't [REDACTED]. It's been a good day and you've made some new friends, is it really time to go home?

HELL NO!

Productive days demand victory parties, so we're putting one on, and that means celebrating in the only way nerds know how (contrary to popular stereotypes, this does actually involve booze and music, it just happens to be music about the things nerds love) ... by rocking out with our differential calculus out!